As WFAN midday hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata were broadcasting live from Fanatics Fest in New York City earlier today, they had a special guest pop by. It was none other than longtime WFAN afternoon host and current SiriusXM and ESPN star Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo who sat down and talked about a wide range of subjects in a 20-minute chat with BT and Sal.
Everything from the best Yankees player ever to whether or not the Knicks can win a championship to Hawk Tuah girl was discussed as well as Dog’s career, both now and his many years on WFAN with Mike Francesa.
About the work he is doing on ESPN’s First Take, Dog said, “Second renaissance…Stephen A. is the reason why I’m on. It’s a little different. It gives you power…See, what you say on First Take provides a form where everybody catches on to it. What you and I say on the radio…You’re dealing with your selective audience. On First Take, you get in that ESPN wheel where they send it out in clips. They send it here. They send it there. And so, you become part of the furniture, and everybody gets a little piece of it…I love doing it.”
Looking back, Russo was asked about that difficult decision he made to leave WFAN after so many years and so much success.
“It was a hard call,” he said. “You know, I probably wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for Mel Karmazin. I don’t know if I would have done it if it wasn’t for Howard over there. Not that I was a Howard listener prior…It was a very tough call. As it turns out, the first couple of years were tough. I think it was good for Mike because Mike could show that he could do it – high ratings without me. And I needed a different challenge. So, I think overall, I think it was the proper decision for the both of us. It was a good move at the time.”
BT then mentioned the relationship between Russo and Francesa at the time and asked, “But if the relationship was better at the time, you wouldn’t have left?”
“I probably wouldn’t have left,” Russo said.
The guys talked about whether or not splitting up Russo and Francesa was discussed at the time by the radio station. Russo said that was not something the station wanted to do and while he might have thought about it, ultimately, he did not think it would have been the right call for him.
“I’m not sure if my act would have worked in the morning, though,” he said. “Because I would have done a straight sports show…I’m not sure if it would have worked because I would have probably tried to do it along the lines of the same thing.
“I mean, I think all in all, it was the right move for me, and it was the right move for [Mike].
